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Members of the Muslim Student Association pray outside of Kerckhoff Hall after breaking a day-long Ramadan fast Tuesday evening.

On Thursday evening, Michelle Belo will be sitting down for turkey, stuffing, candied yams and tamales at her grandma’s home in the city.

Meanwhile, Khattaab Khan will be at home with his mother in Laguna Niguel, giving thanks by breaking his 23rd day of Ramadan fasting with a light snack and prayer.

Khan and Belo represent two cultures which give thanks in nearly opposite fashion this season, taking part in traditions that ask its participants to either feast or refrain from eating.

The overlap between Thanksgiving and Ramadan, a month on the Islamic calendar that requires Muslims to fast daily, is rare because the lunar calendar means Ramadan is celebrated 10 days earlier each year.

To Khan, a second-year international development studies and political science student, “giving thanks” means moderation and sacrifice.

“When you contrast that with Thanksgiving, you’re giving thanks for what you have, but you’re indulging yourself,” he said.

“I’m not saying American culture is not characteristic of Muslim culture,” he continued, but “to us, it’s kind of like a Hallmark holiday.”

During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink from dawn until dusk – which, this year, falls from around five in the morning to five in the evening.

At sunset, Muslims break their fast by praying and eating something sweet, like dates – consistent with practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

Students from UCLA’s Muslim Student Association have been breaking their fast weeknights behind Kerckhoff hall, eating and praying together since Ramadan began three weeks ago.

“Fasting tries to give you the opportunity to feel the strife that underprivileged people feel every day,” Khan said. “You gain a greater appreciation for what you have, so I guess it is a form of Thanksgiving.”

Belo’s family celebrates the holiday in the traditional sense, with a massive gathering that family members from all over the state will attend – flocking to taste what she says are her grandma’s famous tamales.

“Everyone brings a dish to help her out, but my grandma starts cooking at six in the morning,” said Belo, a first-year biology student.

As for being thankful, she said her family shares their blessings aloud.

“We go around and say a prayer – my grandma is Catholic – and everybody says what they’re thankful for,” she said.

Like Khan, she acknowledges that “giving thanks” can be shown in different ways, be it by eating a full dinner or by fasting.

“However you want to do it,” she says, “you’re still giving thanks.”

Khan celebrated a similarly traditional Thanksgiving with his extended family until several years ago, when he moved to California with his mother.

He has fasted during Ramadan for “around 10 years,” but the period during which he celebrated both occasions did not threaten his religious beliefs.

“(Thanksgiving) is pretty much viewed as a Western holiday, but there’s nothing wrong with it,” he said. “We just don’t go out of our way to have a big feast.”

“It has its historical origins but recently it’s become very commercialized,” he added, referring to the day after Thanksgiving as the kickoff of the holiday shopping season.

And, he said, Muslims who do celebrate the holiday still keep moderation in mind.

“You can’t use the justification that you’ve fasted all day to gorge yourself with four plates of food,” he said.

Many Muslim students are quick to identify other differences between the two occasions, but most still suggest the paramount similarity is spending time with family.

Jewelle Francisco, the vice president of the Muslim Students Association, fasts for Ramadan – which she calls “more meaningful” for her than Thanksgiving – alone because her family is not Muslim.

“You wish they would share it with me, but in the end, I’m thankful to God and my family is also thankful to God.

“It’s a good time to be together,” she said.

Both Khan and Belo agree, setting religious beliefs aside and saying the time should be reserved for family.

“I’m really close to my family and I get to see them,” Belo said.